Chelsea at Swansea: Team News, Predictions and more

BY JEFF BRODRICKS | SportingAlert.com
Published on Jan. 23, 2013 7:44 a.m. CST .
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Last Updated: 23rd January, 2013, 7:44 AM

Free Scoring Blues Are Receiving Most Of The Backing, But Swansea Boss Confident His Team Will See Off The Challenge Book Wembley Place.

SWANSEA (Sporting Alert) — Chelsea could make changes to its team for Wednesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Swansea, with captain John Terry set to make his first start since November.

The Blues will be hoping to erase a deficit after losing 2-0 in the first-leg at Stamford Bridge.

The center half returned from a knee injury earlier this month, but has not seen too much action – making just one appearance as a substitute almost two weeks ago against Stoke.

Terry sat on the bench for the entire 90-minutes of his team’s English Premier League 2-2 draw with Southampton and the 2-1 win over Arsenal last week.

David Luiz is also set to return to the Chelsea squad after missing the win over Arsenal on Sunday, while manager Rafa Benitez is backing defender Branislav Ivanovic, whose costly mistakes led to Swansea’s goals in the opening leg – to bounce back at The Liberty Stadium.

“The players are professionals,” Benitez tells www.chelseafc.com. “They are winners and they know we need to do our best because we deserved more from the first game.

“Ivanovic wants to play in every game. He played the game immediately after, but I told him I don’t have any issues with players when they try their best.

“He doesn’t have anything to prove as he’s proving it every week, but if he scores the winning goal I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

Demba Ba is again expected to replace Fernando Torres at center forward after the Spanish international failed to impress against the Gunners.

Swansea, who are at 12/1 for a 1-0 predicted win, have kept just one clean sheet in its last five games, but the team they prevented from scoring was Chelsea, which makes Wednesday night’s encounter a very tricky tie for the European champions.

Attacker Michu, who netted the opener in the 39th during the first leg victory, is at 7/1 to score first and last in this game.

Meanwhile, Swansea have lost just one of their last 35 games by more than a two-goal margin, with this coming in a 3-0 defeat to Everton in the EPL fixture last September.

Chelsea will also take note that the defeat also came at The Liberty Stadium.

The Blues have also scored 16 goals in the Capital One Cup so far this season, while conceding seven – four of which came in the 5-4 win over Manchester United on Oct. 31.